OS1/22/4/45

Continued entries/extra info

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though far from modern. Mr. Fraser Tytler thus describes this
interesting relic of feudal ages. The whole of Cawdor Castle is peculiarly................ -- Shown
calculated to impress the mind with a retrospect of past ages, feudal
customs, and deeds of darkness. Its iron grated doors, its ancient tapestry
hanging loosely over secret doors and hidden passages, its winding
staircases, its rattling drawbridge, all conspire to excite the most......................... -- Shown on trace
gloomy imagery in the mind. Among the intricacies of this castle must
be mentioned the secret apartment which so effectually concealed Lord
Lovat from the sight of his pursuers. It is placed immediately below the
rafters in one part of the roof of the Castle. By means of a ladder you are
conducted by the side of one part of sloping roof into a kind of channel
between two, such as frequently serves to convey rain water into pipes
for a reservoir; by proceeding along this channel, you arrive at the foot of
a stone staircase, which leads up one side of the roof to the right, and is
so artfully contrived as to appear a part of the ornaments of the building
when beheld at a distance. At the end of this staircase is a room with a
single window near the floor. It is said Lord Lovat used to be conducted
to this place when his pursuers approached, the ladder being removed as
soon as he ascended. When the search was over, and the inquirers gone the
ladder was replaced, by which means he lived comfortably with the family,
and might long have remained secure, if he had not quitted the place
of his retreat. A remarkable tradition respecting the foundation of this
castle is worth notice, because circumstances still remain which plead
strongly for its truth. It is said the original proprietor was directed by a
dream to load an Ass with gold, turn it loose, and, following its footsteps,
build a castle wherever the Ass rested. The Ass received its burden and its
liberty, and, after strolling about from one thistle to another, it arrived at last
beneath the branches of a hawthorn tree, where, fatigued with the weight on his
back, it knelt down to rest. The space round the tree was immediately cleared
for building, the foundation laid, and a tower erected; but the tree was preserved
and remains at this moment a singular memorial of superstition attended
by advantage. The trunk of the tree, with the knotty protuberances of its
branches, is still shewn in a vaulted apartment at the bottom of the principal
tower. The roots branch out beneath the floor, and its top punctuates through
its vaulted arch of stone above, in such a manner as to make it appear
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